Advertising Livery for Merseyrail 507/508's

[John_142]

Today i spotted and rode on 508 134 it wa in full advertising livery for Captial of culture year 2008 looked quite nice too.

Just wondering if they are all going too be done and iam quite surpised it was not 508 110 that had been done as this was the first to be refurbished and appears in the publicity photographs.

Just think that the money would be better spent on New trains as i was on my way to work yesterday and was stuck for half an hour at Bank Hall Junction due too a failed train which must have been out of the depot less than an hour.

[swisstrains]

John,
I don't know which ones but apparently Merseytravel are going to have 4 trains advertising the Capital of Culture as part of their sponsorship deal.

[hstudent]

Apparently Merseyrail will get new trains, but not until 2013!

[John_142]

Will they last that long ?

[hstudent]

It's probably partly the government's fault for not providing more funding. I know that the government did originally say that the former First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern trains would be suitable for the duration of the Northern Rail franchise, not realising how crowded certain trains were or that certain units were worn out before Northern Rail got them.

With the Merseyrail franchise, Merseytravel are said to be looking at the possiblity of replacing the 507/508s with trains that can run either on or off third rails, or extending the amount of track with a third rail. So it could be that in 2013 there's a Liverpool Central to Preston via Ormskirk service, a Liverpool to Wrexham service and the Ellesmere Port service being extended to Helsby.

I've also encountered minor problems on my past two Merseyrail journeys. One was doors jammed on both sides of the train slowing down the time it took for passengers to join and alight, hence holding up the train.

The other problem was while there were engineering works on the New Brighton and West Kirkby lines resulted in those passengers having to travel on either a Chester or Ellesmere Port service as far as Hamilton Square, where they then had to catch a replacement bus and then change back to a train north of Birkenhead. The Chester and Ellesmere Port trains were leaving people behind so Merseyrail decided to run an additional four services an hour between Rock Ferry and Liverpool Central. That then led to a shortage of trains to use on the Chester and Ellesmere Port services
and resulted in some Liverpool bound services terminating at Hooton, or so Merseyrail claim.